Am I Safe? Three Steps to Calm Your Nervous System (with Leah Davidson)

About this episode

Brooke and Leah discuss nervous system regulation and its importance in midlife and relationships.

In today’s episode, Brooke sits down with Leah Davidson (Toronto-based speech language pathologist and nervous system educator) for a practical, hope-filled conversation about nervous system regulation and safety and why it matters so much in midlife and in our relationships with adult children. If you’ve ever wondered, “Why did I react like that?” or felt your body go into stress mode over something that isn’t actually dangerous, this episode will help you understand what’s happening and what to do next. In this episode, we talk about: What the nervous system is, and why it’s constantly scanning for “safe or danger” Why your nervous system is highly sensitive and sometimes highly inaccurate “False alarms” and the reality that your body can’t always tell the difference between real danger and perceived danger Brooke’s basketball game story (and how quickly the body can escalate when it thinks something important is on the line) Why midlife can feel more intense: hormones, sleep changes, stress load, shifting family roles, and stretched-thin capacity A key truth: regulation isn’t being calm all the time It’s being able to move through activation and come back home How…

People in this episode

Host: Brooke Oniki

Guest: Leah Davidson

Topics covered

• nervous system regulation
• midlife challenges
• stress management
• parenting adult children
• emotional safety

Keywords

• nervous system
• stress response
• midlife
• emotional regulation
• anxiety management
• safety sequence
• false alarms

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Toronto

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